[Hallway Outside Observation Room — September 16, 4:41 PM]
The hug didn't end cleanly.
Lin Weiwei was the first to pull back — not all at once, but in stages. Her fist uncurled against his back. Then her nails withdrew, leaving small crescents in his skin she'd never see. Her forehead lifted from his chest. Her hands lingered there for a beat, then two, before they dropped to her sides.
Xiao Yue followed. Her palm flattened against his back. Gently. Just enough distance to breathe.
The three of them stood there. Close enough to touch. But none dared to lay a finger on each other.
Lin Feng's arms hung at his sides. The warmth faded from his chest in patches, cold air rushing into the spaces where they'd been pressed against him.
"That's my answer."
"I need both of you."
Late afternoon light slanted through the hallway windows. The shadows had crept forward while they'd been standing there — longer now, cutting across the polished floor at sharper angles.
Lin Weiwei blinked hard. Twice. Then she lifted her chin, and when she spoke her jaw was set and her voice came out quiet.
"That's not an answer, Big Brother."
She swallowed once, hard.
"You said you want both of us." Her hands curled at her sides. "That's not how it works, Big Brother. You can only choose one of us."
Xiao Yue stood beside her. Not quite shoulder to shoulder — a half-step of distance still between them — but facing the same direction. Toward him.
"Lin Feng, you can only answer one name. That's it. Just one name." Her voice was even, but her hands weren't. She clasped them behind her back where he couldn't see the tremor. "That's all we're asking."
Lin Feng looked at them both.
"My answer won't change."
Lin Weiwei's lips parted — then pressed together. Her shoulders dropped half an inch.
"Suit yourself."
Then she walked away and turned left. Her heels struck the floor harder than necessary, each step sharp and deliberate in the quiet hallway.
Xiao Yue didn't move right away. She held his gaze for one more second, her throat working once around something she didn't say.
Then she followed Lin Weiwei only to turn right not long after, walking away at a different pace than Lin Weiwei. Slower, more measured.
Neither of them looked back.
Behind him, Zhang Tingting's fingers were still curled into the back of his shirt. Her knuckles pressed into his spine through the fabric. She hadn't let go through any of it.
Lin Feng stood in the hallway with an empty corridor ahead of him and a girl holding onto his shirt from behind.
He didn't move.
----------------------
[Hallway — 4:46 PM]
The hallway was still. Lin family operatives stood along the walls at regular intervals, but none of them moved or spoke. The late afternoon light had shifted, and the shadows from the tall windows lay flat and long across the polished floor.
A small tug at his shirt.
Lin Feng turned around.
Zhang Tingting was still there. Still holding the edge of his shirt with both hands. Her knuckles were white. Her face was pale.
Right. She's still here.
He took a breath. Let it out slowly.
"Tingting."
Her grip tightened on his shirt, and she straightened up. "Y-Yes?"
"Wanna go somewhere with me?"
The image hit her before the words finished landing.
A room. A hotel room. Door clicking shut. Him loosening his collar. Her back against the wall. His hand—
WHAT.
What the— no. No no no. What is WRONG with me? Why did I— where did THAT come from?
Her face went nuclear. She could feel the heat climbing from her neck to her ears, and she couldn't stop it, couldn't control it, couldn't do anything except stand there and pray he couldn't see what had just flashed through her head.
It's because of today. That's all. I spent HOURS watching Long Tian put his hands all over Qingxue and Yuting. I watched Lin Feng hug two women at the same time.
That's all… I'm just stressed and not thinking straight.
Lin Feng is not like that.
It doesn't mean anything.
It does NOT mean anything at all.
She still couldn't look at him.
"I—" Her mouth opened and closed. "I don't— I mean— I—"
"Yes, wanna come with me?" Lin Feng's eyebrows lifted slightly, the tension from a moment ago already gone from his face. "I just need somewhere quiet. A secluded park. Or somewhere quiet where I can think."
A park?
The relief hit her so hard her knees almost buckled.
A park. Just a park. Not a— it's a PARK. He wants to sit in a park and think. That's all. That's completely normal. See? Normal.
Wait.
More images hit her the moment realization came.
This time it was a secluded park. Trees everywhere. The moonlight illuminating the sky. His hand on the tree. Her back against the bark of a tree, pinned down. His hand—
A SECLUDED park?
Just the two of us?
How is that BETTER?
Zhang Tingting finally opened her mouth, her face as red as a tomato, her eyes fixed on anything that wasn't him.
"I — I know a place."
WHY DID I SAY THAT.
The words left her mouth before her brain caught up, and she immediately wanted to shove them back in.
Why did I say that? Why did I say it so fast? Now it sounds like I've been WAITING for him to—
Lin Feng looked at her for a long moment.
Then a sound escaped him — not quite a laugh, more like something he tried to keep behind his teeth and failed. A short exhale through his nose, his shoulders shaking once.
"Tingting."
She flinched.
"It's not like that at all."
His hand came up and landed on top of her head. Light. Warm. The kind of pat you'd give a kid who just said something ridiculous at the dinner table.
He's patting my head.
He's PATTING my HEAD.
Like I'm a child. Like I'm a little kid who just— who just—
Does he KNOW what I was thinking? Is that why he's— oh my God he knows. He definitely knows. There's no way he doesn't know.
She wanted to die. Right there. In the hallway. Just cease to exist.
But her head didn't move away from his hand.
Lin Feng let his hand drop and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a set of car keys and held them out to her.
Zhang Tingting stared at the keys. Then at him. Then at the keys again.
His car keys. That's his— that's the sports car. That thing is even worth more than my parents' noodle shop.
He never let Qingxue drive this car. Not once.
And now he's just... handing me the keys?
"Can you drive me there?" He rolled his shoulders once, like he was trying to loosen something that wouldn't come unstuck. "I haven't driven in a while. I don't trust myself right now with driving."
Oh. He's just tired. Okay. That's... okay.
But he's asking ME. Not Weiwei. Not Xiao Yue. Me.
"I..." She swallowed. "What if I scratch it?"
Lin Feng's expression didn't change. "I'll have someone fix it."
...fix it?
Just "fix it"? Not "be careful"? Not "please don't"? Just—
Zhang Tingting took the keys. They were heavier than she expected. Cold metal warming slowly in her palm.
"This way," Lin Feng said, already walking toward the parking garage.
I don't have to follow him.
Right? I mean... I can always say no...
Yet Zhang Tingting followed him, clutching the keys like they might bite her.
----------------------
[Zhang Tingting] ★☆☆☆☆☆☆ (1-Star Heroine)
├─ Previous: 25
└─ Current: 21 (-4)
----------------------
[Left Hallway Corner — 4:53 PM]
After she walked out of the cafe, Lin Weiwei hadn't gone far.
She stood pressed against the wall, just around the corner. Close enough that if Lin Feng came after her, he'd find her immediately. Close enough that she could hear footsteps approaching.
Big Brother will come.
He has to come.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, and her fingers kept smoothing down the hem of her shirt — the same nervous habit she'd had since childhood that she could never quite kill.
Big Brother will chase me. He'll grab my arm and spin me around and tell me I'm the one he really wants. That he just couldn't say it because that bitch is there.
And then I'll forgive him.
And then I will smile at him for real and we can finally continue what we were doing last night.
After that, we will finally cross that point.
She waited.
One minute. Two. The hallway stayed silent.
He should chase me, right?
Three minutes. Her fingers stopped smoothing her hem and curled into the fabric instead.
He should be here by now.
Four.
What if he chased HER instead?
What if he chose that stalker bitch Xiao Yue?
Her stomach clenched, and she pressed herself harder against the wall, holding her breath so she could hear better.
Nothing.
----------------------
[Right Hallway Corner — 4:53 PM]
Around the opposite corner, Xiao Yue stood with her back flat against the wall and her arms crossed over her chest.
The right corner is closer to the main exit. If he's going to chase anyone, he'd have to pass this way first.
So I wait.
He'll come. He'll tell me he chose me. He'll say what he couldn't say in front of her.
One minute. Two.
She counted the seconds in her head the way she counted everything — precise, measured, controlled. It was better than listening to her own heartbeat, which was doing something she refused to acknowledge.
Three.
He's probably dealing with Tingting first. Sending her home. Being responsible. That's all.
Four minutes. Five.
The hallway stayed empty, and the explanation she'd built collapsed one second at a time.
What if he chased HER instead?
What if he chose that incestious whore Lin Weiwei?
Then — a sound.
Not footsteps.
An engine.
Xiao Yue's head snapped toward the sound. Coming from the parking garage. Growing louder, then fading as it moved away from the building.
She stepped to the edge of the corner and looked.
----------------------
[Left Hallway Corner — Same Moment]
Lin Weiwei heard the engine too.
She peeked around her corner at the exact same moment Xiao Yue peeked around hers.
Through the tall windows at the end of the hallway, they could both see the parking garage exit. A silver sports car pulling out — sleek, expensive, and unmistakably Lin Feng's.
And in the driver's seat — it wasn't Lin Feng.
It was Zhang Tingting.
Lin Weiwei's eyes found Xiao Yue's across the length of the hallway.
The distance between them had never felt smaller.
Neither spoke. Neither needed to. The look that passed between them said everything — not forgiveness, not alliance, not even a truce.
Just: are you coming or not?
----------------------
[Weiwei's SUV — 4:56 PM]
They met in the middle of the hallway without a word and walked toward the parking garage in perfect step, neither looking at the other.
Lin Weiwei's SUV sat in the corner spot — an ordinary-looking civilian model from the outside, the kind that wouldn't earn a second glance on any street. The inside was a different story.
Xiao Yue climbed into the passenger seat and stopped. Multiple screens were mounted between the seats in custom housing, cables running to hidden compartments in the dash and under the rear seats.
It was a full computer unit, humming quietly beneath the center console.
Amateur!
"Do you have tools?" she asked. "Screwdrivers? Allen keys? Soldering tools?"
Lin Weiwei pointed to the rear seat. "Under the cushion."
Xiao Yue was already moving. She flipped up the seat cushion, revealing a hidden compartment packed with tools — professional grade, organized by size.
Then she reached into her purse.
Not for makeup. Not for tissues nor for cash.
Electronic devices. Trackers. Signal repeaters. An RF receiver module the size of her palm. And a telescopic antenna — collapsed now, but capable of extending to three meters.
Lin Weiwei watched her lay the hardware across the dashboard, piece by piece, like a surgeon preparing instruments.
Of course she carries that in her purse. Of course she does.
"I need to integrate this with your system," Xiao Yue said, already opening the computer's side panel, her fingers finding the screws without looking. "The RF tracker I planted on him when he hugged me — I can pick up the signal, but I can't process it while driving."
"And I can track his phone," Lin Weiwei replied, starting the engine, "but I can't hack it while driving either. We're both blind alone. And for the record, it was me he hugged, not you, stalker bitch."
Xiao Yue didn't even look up. Her fingers were already dismantling Lin Weiwei's computer, pulling the motherboard free with practiced efficiency.
She slotted the RF module into place and reached for the soldering iron, connecting each joint to the motherboard with quick, precise strokes.
"You incest stalker. Your mounting points are non-standard." Xiao Yue's fingers moved across the motherboard, securing it again and connecting it back to its power supply.
"Your solder joints are sloppy." Lin Weiwei didn't even glance over.
"This antenna is top tier-grade. What would you know about hardware?"
"I built this entire system from scratch. What would you know about architecture?"
They swapped positions without discussion — Xiao Yue sliding into the driver's seat, Lin Weiwei moving to the computer station
. The transition was seamless, like they'd rehearsed it, which made both of them angrier because it meant they worked well together and neither wanted to admit that.
The SUV pulled out of the parking garage, heading east on Xiao Yue's best guess.
"Five years of stalking," Lin Weiwei said, her fingers flying across the keyboard while her jaw stayed tight, "and you still can't keep him in one place."
"At least I'm not the one who has been living with him and only recently got his attention." Xiao Yue's eyes stayed on the road, but her grip on the steering wheel turned her knuckles white. "If it was me, he would not need to find sluts like Su Qingxue."
"You call watching him from across the street getting his attention?" Lin Weiwei's voice dripped venom, her fingers never leaving the keyboard.
"You call clinging to him like a parasite getting his respect?" Xiao Yue took a hard turn without signaling.
Lin Weiwei's typing got louder — each keystroke harder than the last. "This is your fault."
"No, it's your fault." Xiao Yue's jaw tightened, her eyes flicking to the rearview mirror before snapping back to the road. "And remember, we walked away at the same moment and you know it."
"We gave him one last chance. One name. He couldn't even say one—"
"If you hadn't pushed so hard, he wouldn't have left with her." Xiao Yue cut her off, her voice dropping a degree colder.
"If YOU hadn't made him feel cornered—"
"He had the chance right there and he let us walk away." Xiao Yue's thumb pressed hard against the steering wheel, the leather creaking under the pressure.
"Let us?" Lin Weiwei's hands stopped on the keyboard. "He practically pushed us out the door. And now he wants us to come chasing him!"
The antenna was up now — three meters of telescopic steel extending from a suction cup mount on the roof. The receiver module was wired into the motherboard. Lin Weiwei was writing driver code on the fly, making the new hardware talk to her system.
"He's with his ex's matchmaker right now." Xiao Yue took a hard left turn, tires protesting. "The girl who spent years helping him chase Su Qingxue. And now she's driving his car."
"His sports car." Lin Weiwei's voice could have cut glass.
"And whose fault is that?"
"YOURS!"
"YOURS!"
The RF signal locked. The blinking dot appeared on the screen, steady and bright.
Both of them stopped mid-breath, their eyes fixed on the dot.
"Got him."
A beat of silence. Then —
"Your driver code is inefficient."
"Your antenna placement is suboptimal."
The SUV accelerated toward the lake district.
----------------------
[Lakeside Park — 5:34 PM]
Zhang Tingting parked the sports car with excruciating care.
She'd driven the whole way with her hands at ten and two, checking her mirrors every thirty seconds, staying ten to fifteen kilometers under the speed limit. The engine probably cost more than her family's annual income. If she scratched it, she might actually die.
He said he'd have someone fix it.
That doesn't make me feel better.
Lin Feng waited while she finished. He didn't rush her, didn't check his phone or tap his fingers or give any sign of impatience. He just sat there with his eyes half-closed and his head tilted back against the headrest.
When she finally turned off the engine, he was already out of the car and walking around to her side.
He opened her door.
Zhang Tingting blinked up at him.
He opened the door for me?
"Careful." He offered his hand. "It sits a little low."
She took it. He was right — the sports car was ridiculously low to the ground, and getting out gracefully was basically impossible without help.
His hand was warm and dry and steady.
Once she was standing, he didn't let go immediately. Instead, he shifted his grip from her hand to her wrist — light, guiding, not possessive.
Meanwhile, her gaze dropped to where his hand held her wrist.
"This way. There's a clearing by the water."
The late afternoon sun filtered through the trees, casting everything in deep gold. The air smelled like wet earth and grass, and somewhere across the lake a bird was calling in long, slow intervals. It was quiet here — the kind of quiet that made the city feel like it belonged to a different world.
Lin Feng led her down the path. His pace was measured and unhurried, and twice he slowed without being asked when the ground turned uneven, giving her time to find her footing in her shoes.
This is... he's being…
Why is he being so— stop. Don't think about it. He's just walking. I'm just following. That's all this is.
He's just being… gentle.
Zhang Tingting's wrist was burning where he held it. Not tight. Not possessive. Just... there. Like he'd forgotten he was still holding on.
Has he forgotten? Should I say something? Should I pull away?
She didn't pull away.
It's because the path is uneven. Yes, that's it.
He's just making sure I don't trip. That's basic manners. Anyone would—
Then why didn't he ever do this for Qingxue?
The thought hit her sideways, and she almost stumbled.
Lin Feng stopped and turned back, his hand still on her wrist. "Are you okay?"
"Yes..." Zhang Tingting steadied herself, not meeting his eyes. "I'm fine."
When they reached a clearing — grass, shade, the lake stretching out silver and still in front of them — Lin Feng released her wrist.
He sat down on the grass and patted the ground beside him.
"Here. Sit with me."
Zhang Tingting lowered herself onto the grass a careful arm's length away, her hands folded tight in her lap and her eyes fixed on the lake.
----------------------
[Lakeside Clearing — 5:40 PM]
Lin Feng pulled out a cigarette.
Finally.
He'd been wanting one all day — through the surveillance, through the confrontation, through the drive. The craving had been building for hours, a low hum at the back of his mind that wouldn't shut up.
He held the pack toward Zhang Tingting. "Do you smoke?"
"No."
He took the cigarette back, tucked it behind his ear, and lit his own. The first inhale was heaven — warm smoke filling his lungs, nicotine hitting his bloodstream, tension bleeding out of his shoulders. He leaned back on one hand and let the exhale drift upward into the golden air.
Zhang Tingting watched him — the way he held the cigarette between two fingers, the practiced flick of the wrist, the smooth exhale through his nose like he'd done this a thousand times.
"Since when did you start smoking?"
"Starting now."
She gave him a look — one eyebrow up, lips pressed flat.
That's obviously a lie. He smokes like he's been doing it for years.
But nothing Lin Feng had done today had been normal.
He smoked and stared at the sky while the lake rippled in the late afternoon breeze. A bird called somewhere across the water, and the trees around the clearing rustled with a wind that smelled like wet grass and approaching evening.
Then he spoke without looking at her.
"What do you think of what I've done today?"
Zhang Tingting blinked.
He's asking me? The matchmaker? Why is he asking ME?
But he'd turned his head toward her now, and his eyes were steady on her face — not deflecting, not performing, just waiting. The cigarette burned low between his fingers.
Fine. He asked.
"You accepted both of them on the same day."
Lin Feng said nothing. He took a drag and waited.
"You made them feel like they're not special. Like they're interchangeable."
Still nothing. The smoke curled upward and dissolved into the warm air above them.
"They asked you to choose and you refused."
He was watching her now, his expression unreadable.
"You sounded like an asshole." She met his eyes. "You looked like a scoundrel. Like a greedy person who wants everything."
Lin Feng took another drag. He didn't flinch and he didn't defend himself.
Zhang Tingting looked away toward the lake. The images from the screens flashed through her mind — Long Tian's hands sliding under Yuting's blouse, Qingxue's lips pressing against his jaw, those hollow matching smiles.
"But at least..."
She hesitated, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
"At least you're not like him. Not like Long Tian."
The breeze picked up for a moment, rippling the surface of the lake and pushing her hair across her face. She tucked it behind her ear without thinking.
"He had his hands all over them after two hours. In public. And they just... let him. Smiled while he did it. The same smile. Both of them."
Her voice went quieter.
"You hugged them. That's it. You didn't... you weren't trying to..."
She couldn't finish. But the space she left said enough.
"What did you expect would happen?"
Lin Feng took another drag.
"You're right."
Zhang Tingting's head snapped toward him.
What?
She'd expected defense. Excuses. "You don't understand the situation." "It's more complicated than that." "They're the ones who gave me an ultimatum."
Not this. Not just agreeing with everything she'd said like it was something he already knew.
"You're... you're not going to argue?"
"Why would I?" He exhaled smoke toward the sky. "Everything you said is true."
----------------------
[Lakeside Clearing — 5:56 PM]
Lin Feng lay back on the grass, his cigarette still in hand and his eyes on the sky. The afternoon light had shifted — gold fading toward orange, the first hints of evening creeping in.
And there, barely visible against the pale blue, hung the ghost of the moon. Faint and distant — a white sliver that most people wouldn't notice unless they were looking for it.
He raised his hand toward it.
Zhang Tingting sat with her knees still pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She kept glancing at him and then away, like she was trying to find the version of Lin Feng she thought she knew somewhere in the person lying on the grass beside her.
He agreed with everything I said.
I called him an asshole. A scoundrel. Greedy.
And he just... said yes. Like he already knew.
And now he's lying in the grass staring at the moon like none of it matters.
"Tingting."
"...Yes?"
"I have a question."
She blinked. "What is it?"
Silence. The breeze moved through the clearing, carrying the smell of lake water and cooling earth. Smoke curled upward from his cigarette, caught in the fading light.
Then, quiet — almost to himself, almost to the moon:
"What if the question is not the right question, and the answer is not the right answer?"
----------------------
[Zhang Tingting] ★☆☆☆☆☆☆ (1-Star Heroine)
├─ Previous: 21
└─ Current: 17 (-4)
----------------------
[End of Chapter 31]